As I said in the Colly tribute thread, don't confuse "talent" with "style". Succeeding despite having relatively poor strokeplay is a talent.

Isn't that the mental strength and application that he alludes to? Working around your limitations is certainly an attribute that any batsman, hell, any successful sportsman needs to get to the top. Some just have fewer limitations than others.

Agree with PEWS here. Cook, as is obvious to even casual observers, doesn't have KP's range of shot, barely hits a ball down the ground for instance.

What he has in spades is discipline and determination. Now he's totally sure where his off stump is he's also (mostly) ignored the balls slanted across him he used to consistently nick behind. Ironically his dismissal at the SCG was "Cook's outs 101", but as he's made 189 at the time one's minded to look past it.

KP's only rival in our XI for the "natural batting ability" stakes is Bell IMHO.

"The PFA does not represent players when they have broken the law and been convicted on non-football matters."- Gordon Taylor in 2009 following Marlon King's release after a prison sentence for sexual assault & ABH

For me 'talent' incorporates a lot of stuff, including temperament and concentration. Obviously Cook has those qualities in excess where Pietersen doesn't.

Originally Posted by Top_Cat

1) Had double pneumonia as a kid, as did my twin sis. Doctors told my parents to pray that we lived through the night. Dad said **** off, I'm an atheist, you ****s better save my kids, etc. Then prayed anyway.

In the end, I think it's so utterly, incomprehensibly boring. There is so much context behind each innings of cricket that dissecting statistics into these small samples is just worthless. No-one has ever been faced with the same situation in which they come out to bat as someone else. Ever.

Even if people think discipline and temperament are just as much a talent as strokeplay, colloqiually it's not used in that way.

When someone says about a 14 year old "this kid is very talented, we should nurture him" you don't think "he doesn't get sucked into half volleys outside off stump". You think "he can pull a ball off a length better than most kids his age."

"I am very happy and it will allow me to have lot more rice."

Eoin Morgan on being given a rice cooker for being Man of the Match in a Dhaka Premier Division game.